Charles W. Lindberg, 84, walks slowly as he leads a visitor through his home. A retired member of Local 292 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Lindberg is a World War II veteran whose once over-looked role at Iwo Jima is winning belated acknowledgement.

At age 24, then Marine Corporal Lindberg, wearing a 72-pound flame-thrower on his back, helped lead a patrol to the summit of Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, during the bloody weeks-long battle for Iwo Jima.

At the top, Lindberg and his fellows found a pole, attached an American flag, and raised it aloft. Marines in battle below cheered. U.S. Navy ships' whistles blew. Marine Corps photographer Sergeant Lou Lowery snapped photos.

Four hours later, another group of Marines raised a larger, replacement flag. To the later dismay of Lindberg and the first flag-raising team, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's photo of that second flag-raising became the most celebrated image of World War II. Members of the second flag-raising team who survived the battle for Iwo Jima were brought back to the United States for a War Bonds tour.

"We did the dirty work and they got the credit," Lindberg still charges, 60 years later. But, in recent years, Lindberg now is getting the long overdue credit he justly deserves. "It's good to see you get some recognition," he says.

The most recent recognition: a team from WCCO television learned the story of the first flag-raising and produced a 30-minute documentary, "The Last Flagraiser," which broadcast nationally on CBS affiliates. (The program premiered Feb. 23, but will be rebroadcast Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, May 28, at noon, on Channel 4 in the Twin Cities).

Lindberg received a Silver Star for his heroism at Iwo Jima and a Purple Heart for wounds he received there.

A truck driver from North Dakota before the war, Lindberg enlisted in the Marines "one month and one day" after the U.S. declared war. In Seattle, he recalled, the recruiter asked him about a missing finger, lost during a fishing accident on the Red River. "'Is that your trigger finger?' he asked. I said no. He said, 'You're accepted.'"

After only five weeks of basic training, Lindberg was in action in the Pacific theatre. He fought at Guadalcanal and Bougainville as part of the elite Carlson's Raiders.

Charles Lindberg, now 84, displays a photo of himself, then a 24-year-old Marine, at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Minneapolis Labor Review photo

Lindberg vividly recalls the battle for Iwo Jima, his patrol's climb to the top of Mount Suribachi, the flag-raising, and the events afterwards.

After 72 days of continuous bombardment, U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima Feb. 19, 1945. Japanese forces were well dug in, however, in a network of caves, fortifications and tunnels that extended deep underground for miles across the small, five-mile long island.

Marines landing on the beaches at Iwo Jima suffered horrific losses from Japanese fire. U.S. forces made headway, however, and four days later Lindberg's platoon received orders to climb Mount Suribachi ? the highest point on Iwo Jima ? and raise the U.S. flag.

As his team began their ascent, he says, "We heard fire but . . . we went all the way to the top with no opposition." Iwo Jima brought Lindberg's first fighting using a flamethrower, which he used to shoot flames into the openings of the Japanese forces' caves and pillboxes. After the flag-raising, he said, "Our tanks were empty. We thought we had better go down the mountain and get them loaded."

While he was gone, the team sent to the top of Mount Suribachi with the larger, replacement flag captured their place in history, if not the summit. The victory at Iwo Jima, Lindberg notes, hastened the war's end by providing airfields for U.S. planes.

Returning home to North Dakota after the war, Lindberg began work as an electrician wiring farms. He met his wife, Vi, in 1946 at a dance at the American Legion in East Grand Forks.

When they first met, Lindberg was quiet about his wartime heroics at Iwo Jima. "He never said a thing to me and I didn't know a thing about it when we started going together," Vi says.

The couple married in 1947. They raised three sons and two daughters and now boast 15 grandchildren.

Lindberg moved to the Twin Cities in 1951, joining IBEW Local 292. "I got to specialize in heating and air conditioning. I got pretty good at that," he says. "I did that for 23 years." He retired in 1985.

Lindberg returned to Iwo Jima once, with Vi, for the 50th anniversary of the victory in 1995.

"I kind of got chills when I saw that island," he says.

Over the years, honors began to come: official recognition from the Marine Corps, meetings with two Presidents, proclamations by Minnesota governors and his hometown of Richfield, numerous awards, plaques and even statues.

Nowadays, Lindberg is a frequent speaker at local schools. His message: "Do everything you can to help our country," Lindberg says. "Freedom is not free."

Steve Share edits the Minneapolis Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council, AFL-CIO. E-mail him at laborreview@mplscluc.com

For more information
Read more about Charles W. Lindberg at the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council website, www.minneapolisunions.org